Unit 25
Urbanization
Contents
25.1
25.2
25.3
25.4
25.5
25.6
25.7
25.8
25.9
Introduction
Urban and Urbanism
The Process of Urbanisation
Urbanization in India
Theories of Urbanisation
Social Effects of Urbanisation in India
Problems of Urabanisation
Conclusions
Further Reading
Learning Objectives
After studying this unit you should be able to:
•
Understand the term urban and urbanism
•
Trace the historical antecedents to urbanisation in India
•
Critically evaluate the theories on urbanization
•
Analyse the social effects and problems of urbanisation
25.1 Introduction
I am sure you have heard the word urbanization and must have affair idea
what it means. You probably associate it with growth of cities. Urbanization,
indeed, is the process of becoming urban, moving to cities, changing from
agriculture to other pursuits common to cities, such as trade, manufacturing,
industry and management, and corresponding changes of behaviour patterns.
It is the process of expansion in the entire system of interrelationships by
which a population maintains itself in its habitat (Hawley, 1981). An increase
in the size of towns and cities leading to growth of urban population is the
most significant dimension of urbanization. The urban centers are essentially
non-agricultural in character. In ancient times there have been great many
cities such as Rome or Baghdad but ever since industrilisation and increasing
industrial production and territory level production cities have grown
phenomenally and now urbanization is very much apart of our contemporary
life.
What exactly constitutes, urban and what is the process of urbanisation will
be dealt with in the following sections. We will also talk about various theories
associated with urbanization. We will discuss the growth of cities and some
of the problems associated with urban centers as well.
25.2 Urban, Urbanism
What is an ‘urban area’? The term is used in two senses – demographic and
sociological. Demographically, the focus is on the size and density of population
and nature of work of the majority of the adult males. Sociologically, the
focus is on heterogeneity, impersonality, interdependence and the quality of
life. Tonnies (1957) differentiated between gemeinschaft (rural) and
gesellschaft (urban) communities in terms of social relationships and values.
The former is one in which social bonds are based on close personal ties of
kinship and friendship, and the emphasis is on tradition, consensus and
informality, while in the latter, impersonal and secondary relationships
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predominate and the interaction of people is formal, contractual and dependent
on the special function or service they perform. Other sociologists like Max
Weber (1961) and George Simmel (1950) have stressed on dense living conditions,
rapidity of change and impersonal interaction in urban settings.
In India, the demographic and economic indexes are important in defining
specific areas as town or city. The census definition of ‘town’ remained more
or less the same for the period 1901-1951 but in 1961, a new definition was
adopted. Up to 1951, ‘town’ included:
1)
An inhabited locality with a total population of not less than 5,000 persons;
2)
Every municipality, corporation and notified area of whatever size; and
3)
All civil lines not included within municipal limits.
Thus, the primary criteria for deciding whether a particular place is a town or
not was the administrative set-up rather than the size of the population.
Because of this definition many of the towns in reality were nothing more
than over-grown villages.
In 1961 ‘town’ was redefined and determined on the basis of a number of
empirical tests:
a)
a minimum population of 5,000,
b)
a density of not less than 1,000 per square mile,
c)
three-fourths of the occupations of the working population should be
outside of agriculture, and
d)
the place should have a few characteristics and amenities such as newly
founded industrial areas, large housing settlements, and places of tourist
importance and civic amenities. As a result of the new definition of
‘town’ was a reduction in the total number of towns in India between
1951 and 1961. The 1961 basis was adopted in the 1971, 1981 and 1991
censuses too for defining towns.
Sociologists do not attach much importance to the size of population in the
definition of city because the minimum population standards vary greatly. A
city is an administratively defined unit of territory containing “a relatively
large, dense and permanent settlement of socially heterogeneous individuals”
(Wirth, 1938). Urban refers to a set of specialized, non-agricultural activities
that are characteristic of, but not exclusive to, city dwellers. A ruling class
with a capacity for taxation and capital accumulation and writing and its
application to predictive sciences, artistic expression, and trade for vital
materials are the kinds of specialized activities necessary to the definition of
the emergence of a truly urban place (Childe, 1950).
Box. 25.1 Million Cities
A million city is, yes you guessed it, a city with one million (or more) inhabitants.
According to the 1995 UN census these are the largest cities on the planet:
1)
Tokyo (Japan) 27.2 million
2)
Mexico City (Mexico), 16.9 million
3)
Sao Paulo (Brazil) 16.8 million
4)
New York (USA), 16.4 million
5)
Bombay, India, 15.7 million
The 1971 census introduced the term urban agglomeration. Very often large
railway colonies, university campuses, port areas, military camps etc. come up
outside the statutory limits of the city or town but adjoining it. Such areas
may not be themselves qualify to be treated as towns but if they formed a
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continuous spread with the adjoining town, it would be realistic to treat
them as urban. Such settlements have been termed as outgrowths, and may
cover a whole village, or part of a village. Two or more towns may also be
contiguous to each other. Such towns together with their outgrowths have
been treated as one urban unit and called ‘urban agglomeration’.
Box 25.2 Type of Cities
On the basis of broad common features of the cities we can classify them into
following types:
Production centres – Jamshedpur, Ferozabad, Kanpur, Kolar
Centres of trade and commerce – Bombay, Madras
Capitals – Delhi, Lucknow etc.
Health and Recreation Centres – Mussoorie, Mysore, Kodaikanal
Cultural Centres – Amritsar, Ajmer, Hardwar
Diversified Cities – Vanarasi
Urbanism
Urbanism has been defined by various scholars as patterns of culture and social
interaction resulting from the concentration of large populations into relatively
small areas. It reflects an organization of society in terms of a complex
division of labour, high levels of technology, high mobility, interdependence of
its members in fulfilling economic functions and impersonality in social relations
(Theodorson, 1969).
Urbanism as way of life, Louis Wirth believes, may be empirically approached
from three interrelated perspectives:
•
as a physical structure with a population base, technology and ecological
order;
•
as a system of social organization with a structure and series of institutions
(secondary contacts, weakening of kinship ties etc.);
•
as a set of attitudes, ideas and constellation of personalities (increased
personal disorganization, suicide, crime, delinquency and corruption).
25.3 The Process of Urbanization
Urbanization as a structural process of change is generally related to
industrialization but it is not always the result of industrialization. Urbanization
results due to the concentration of large-scale and small scale industrial and
commercial, financial and administrative set up in the cities; technological
development in transport and communication, cultural and recreational
activities. The excess of urbanization over industrialization that makes it
possible to provide employment for all persons coming to urban areas is, in
fact, what sometimes leads to over urbanization. In India, a peculiar
phenomenon is seen: industrial growth without a significant shift of population
from agriculture to industry and of growth of urban population without a
significant rise in the ratio of the urban to the total population. While in
terms of ratio, there may not be a great shift from rural to urban activities,
but there is still a large migration of population from rural areas to urban areas.
This makes urban areas choked, there is lack of infrastructural facilities to
cope with this rising populations.
Urbanization implies a cultural and social psychological process whereby people
acquire the material and non-material culture, including behavioural patterns,
forms of organization, and ideas that originated in, or are distinctive of the
city. Although the flow of cultural influences is in both directions – both
toward and away from the city – there is substantial agreement that the
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cultural influences exerted by the city on non-urban people are probably more
pervasive than the reverse. Urbanization seen in this light has also resulted
in what Toynbee has called the “Westernization” of the world.
The idea of urbanization may be made more precise and meaningful when
interpreted as aspects of diffusion and acculturation. Urbanization may be
manifest either as intra-society or inter-society diffusion, that is, urban culture
may spread to various parts of the same society or it may cross cultural or
national boundaries and spread to other societies. It involves both borrowing
and lending. On the other side of the diffusion coin is acculturation, the
process whereby, individuals acquire the material possessions, behavioural
patterns, social organization, bodies of knowledge, and meanings of groups
whose culture differs in certain respects from their own. Urbanization as
seen in this light is a complex process (Gist and Fava: 1933).
The history of urbanization in India reveals, broadly four processes of
urbanization at work throughout the historical period. These are:
a)
the emergence of new social relationships among people in cities and
between people in cities and those in villages through a process of social
change;
b)
the rise and fall of cities with changes in the political order;
c)
the growth of cities based on new productive processes, which alter the
economic base of the city; and
d)
the physical spread of cities with the inflow of migrants, who come in
search of a means of livelihood as well as a new way of life.
Box 25.3
Sub-Urbanization, is closely related to over-urbanization of a city. When cities
get over-crowded by population, it may result in sub-urbanization. Delhi is a
typical example. Sub-urbanization means urbanization of rural areas around the
cities characterized by the following features:
a sharp increase in the ‘urban (non-agricultural) uses’ of land
inclusion of surrounding areas of towns within its municipal limits, and
intensive communication of all types between town and its surrounding areas
Over Urbanization refers to the increased exemplification of the characters of
urbanisation in a city or its surrounding rural area. It results due to the
excessive development of urbanistic traits. Due to the expansion of the range
of urban activities and occupations, greater influx of secondary functions like
industry, increasing and widespread development of an intricate bureaucratic
administrative network, the increased sophistication and mechanization of life
and the influx of urban characters into the surrounding rural area, over
urbanization gradually replaces the ruralistic and traditionalistic traits of a
community. Mumbai and Calcutta are two such examples of cities.
Urbanization as a Socio-Cultural Process
Cities are social artifacts and stands apart from the countryside, in terms of
the higher degree of its acceptance of foreign and cross-cultural influences.
It is a melting pot of people with diverse ethnic, linguistic and religious
backgrounds. Seen in this light, urbanization is a socio-cultural process of
transformation of folk, peasant or feudal village societies.
India has a continuous history of urbanization since 600 BC. Over this period,
three major socio-cultural processes have shaped the character of her urban
societies. These are Aryanization, Persianization and Westernization.
The Aryan phase of urbanization generated three types of cities:
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a)
the capital cities, where the secular power of the kshatriyas was dominant;
b)
the commercial cities dominated by the vaishyas; and
c)
the sacred cities, which, for a time, were dominated by Buddhists and
Jains, who were kshatriyas, and later by brahmins.
With the advent of the Muslim rules from the 10th century AD, the urban
centers in India acquired an entirely new social and cultural character. The
city became Islamic; Persian and later Urdu was the official language of state
and Persian culture dominated the behaviour of the urban elite.
The impact of 150 years of British rule in India, that is, Westernization, is
clearly visible in various aspects of city life today – in administration, in
education, and in the language of social interaction of the city people and
their dress and mannerisms. Urbanism is clearly identified with westernisation.
Reflection
and Action
25.1
Based on your experience, what do you think is the present cultural character
of city/cities in India? Do you think it is westernisation which is the dominating
cultural impact or are there other influences? Write a note on this and share
it with friends or fellow classmates at the study centre.
Urbanization as a Political – Administrative Process
The administrative and political developments have played an important role
in urbanization in the past and they continue to be relevant today. From
about the 5th century BC to the 18th century AD, urban centers in India emerged,
declined or even vanished with the rise and fall of kingdoms and empires.
Patliputra, Delhi, Madurai and Golconda are all examples of cities that flourished,
decayed, and sometimes revived in response to changes in the political scene.
The administrative or political factor often acts as an initial stimulus for urban
growth; which is then further advanced by the growth of commercial and
industrial activities.
Urbanization as an Economic Process
Urbanization in modern times is essentially an economic process. Today, the
city is a focal point of productive activities. It exists and grows on the
strength of the economic activities existing within itself. It is the level and
nature of economic activity in the city that generates growth and, therefore,
further urbanization.
Urbanization as a Geographical Process
The proportion of a country’s total population living in urban areas has generally
been considered as a measure of the level of urbanization. Population growth
in urban areas is partly a function of natural increase in population and partly
the result of migration from rural areas and smaller towns. An increase in the
level of urbanization is possible only through migration of people from rural to
urban areas. Hence, migration or change of location of residence of people
is a basic mechanism of urbanization. This is essentially a geographical process,
in the sense that it involves the movement of people from one place to
another.
There are three major types of spatial moments of people relevant to the
urbanization process. These are
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a)
the migration of people from rural villages to towns and cities leading to
macro-urbanization
b)
the migration of people from smaller towns and cities to larger cities and
capitals leading to metropolisation. It is essentially a product of the
centralization of administrative, political and economic forces in the
country at the national and state capitals. It is also a product of intense
interaction between cities and the integration of the national economy
and urban centers into a viable independent system.
c)
The spatial overflow of metropolitan population into the peripheral urban
feigned villages leading to a process of sub-urbanization. It is, essentially,
an outgrowth of metropolization and here there is a reverse flow of
people from the city to the countryside.
25.4 Urbanization in India
In this section, we will the historical background to urbanization in India and
see how influential history was in the present situation of urban places and
process of urbanization. Urbanization did not occur once but has recurred
over and over in history as societies have urbanized at different times. It is
an ongoing process that has never stopped and has rarely, showed since it’s
beginning.
India has long history of urbanization with spatial and temporal discontinuities.
The first phase of urbanization in the Indus valley is associated with the
Harappan civilization dating back to 2350BC. The two cities of Mohanjodaro
and Harappa represent the climax of urban development attained in the
Harappan culture. This great urban civilization came to end at about 1500 B.C,
possibly as a result of Aryan invasion.
The second phase of urbanization in India began around 600 BC. The architects
of this phase were the Aryans in the North and the Dravidians in the South.
From this period onwards, for about 2500 years, India has had more or less
continuous history of urbanization. This period saw the formation of early
historical cities and also the growth of cities in number and in size especially
during the Mauryan and post-Mauryan eras.
The Mughal period stands out as a second high watermark of urbanization in
India (the first occurring during the Mauryan period), when many of India’s
cities were established.
The early part of British rule saw a decline in the level of Indian urbanization.
The main reasons for the decline of cities during this period are:
1.
the lack of interest on the part of the British in the prosperity and
economic development of India, and
2.
the ushering in of the industrial revolution in England.
During the latter half of British rule, Indian cities regained some of their last
importance; further, the British added several new towns and cities, in addition
to generating newer urban forms in the existing cities.
The following elements constituted the permanent components of the Indian
urban system:
1.
the military-political town, serving as a center for the flow of cash nexus
in the society and often for the redistributive system, and
2.
the temple or the full-fledged temple town.
The great variations exiting among the different periods and areas developed
with respect to (a) the degree of existence of a more centralized hierarchy;
(b) the relative importance of coastal towns in relation to those of the
hinterland and (c) the importance of temple centres and networks in relation
to the more political and commercial towns.
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Facets of British Influence on Urbanization
During the 150 years of British rule, India’s urban landscape went through a
radical transformation. The major contributions of the British to the Indian
urban scene were:
1.
The creation of the three metropolitan port cities (Calcutta, Bombay and
Madras) which emerged as the leading colonial cities of the world.
2.
The creation of Hill stations (Simla, Darjeeling, Mahabaleshwar etc.) and
plantation settlements in Assam, Kerala and elsewhere.
3.
Introduction of the Civil Lines and the Cantonments. The Civil Lines
contained the administrative offices and courts as well as residential
areas for the officers, whereas the Cantonments were most often built
near major towns for considerations of security.
4.
The introduction of the railways and modern industry which led to the
creation of new industrial townships such as Jamshedpur, Asansol, Dhanbad
and so on, and
5.
The improvements in urban amenities and urban administration.
In the British period, Indian cities became the focal points of westernisation.
Schools and colleges trained boys and girls in western thought and languages.
A new western oriented urban elite emerged whose dress, eating habits and
social behaviour reflected western values and attitudes. With the process of
westernization, there has been a concomitant alienation of the urban elite
from the urban and rural masses.
Urbanization in the Post-Independence Period
This period has witnessed rapid urbanization in India on a scale never before
achieved. The major changes that have occurred in India’s urban scene after
independence are:
1)
the influx of refugees and their settlement, primarily in urban areas in
northern India,
2)
the building of new administrative cities, such as Chandigarh,
Bhubaneshwar and Gandhinagar,
3)
the construction of new industrial cities and townships near major cities,
4)
the rapid growth of one-lakh and million cities
5)
the stagnation and decline of small towns
6)
the massive growth of slums and the rural-urban fringe and
7)
the introduction of city planning and the general improvement in civic
amenities.
25.5 Theories of Urbanization
City forms the central point of urban sociology. Like many other sociological
categories, the city is an abstraction composed of concrete entities like
residences and shops and an assortment of many functions. A place is legally
made a city by a declaration by a competent authority. Sorokin and Zimmerman
enumerate eight characteristics in which the urban world differs from the
rural world. These are (1) occupation (2) environment (3) size of community
(4) density of population (5) heterogeneity (6) social differentiation and
stratification (7) mobility and (8) system of interactions.
The study of cities was a subject that had already explored in the second part
of the 19th century in early classical sociology with its celebrated dichotomies,
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such as Maine’s (1931) distinction between status and contract and Morgan’s
(1877) contrast between savagery, barbarism and civilization. This aspect was
further developed by Tonnies (1957), who contrasted gemeinschaft and
gesellschaft, and by Durkheim (1964), who distinguished between “mechanical
and “organic” solidarity. Tonnies and Durkheim believed that the gemeinschaft
type of social organization, or mechanical solidarity, is fully developed in cities,
particularly in modern cities.
In 1920-1940s a number of sociologist from the university of Chicago put forward
ideas which for many years were the chief basis for theory and research on
urban sociology. Two strands of the Chicago school that we are going to
examine are the ecological approach and the ‘urbanism as away of life’ approach
developed by Wirth.
Louis Wirth – Urbanism as a Way of Life
Wirth was one of the pioneers of the study of urbanism and his was the first
systematic attempt to distinguish the concepts of urbanism and urbanization.
His social-psychological theory investigates the human behaviour in an urban
environment. He indicated that size, density and heterogeneity – regarded
as the principal traits in defining cities – are conducive to specific behavioral
patterns and moral attitudes (Wirth, 1938). For him “a city is a relatively large,
dense and permanent settlement of socially heterogeneous individuals”.
Urbanism is that complex of traits that makes up the characteristic mode of
life in cities. Urbanism, as a way of life, may be approached empirically from
three interrelated perspectives:
(1) as a physical structure comprising a population base, a technology, and an
ecological order; (2) as a system of social organization involving a characteristic
social structure, a series of social institutions, and a typical pattern of social
relationships; and (3) as a set of attitudes and ideas, and a constellation of
personalities engaging in typical forms of collective behaviour and subject to
characteristic mechanisms of social control.
Louis Wirth shows two kinds of forces operating in urban society: the force
of segregation and the melting pot effect; which has many unifying aspects
like uniform system of administration etc. However, he concludes that urban
society is based on a means-to-end rationality, which is exploitative and where
the individual is isolated through anonymity. Wirth believed that the density
of life in cities produced neighbourhoods, which have the distinctive
characteristics of traditional communities.
Wirth’s theory is important for it’s recognition that urbanism is not just part
of a society, but expresses and influences the wider social system. However,
Wirth’s observations are based on American cities, which are generalized to
urban centers everywhere, where situations are different.
The Ecological Approach
In natural sciences the term ecology is used to understand the relationship
plants and animals have with their environment. The term is used in a similar
way to understand the process of urabanisation, by such scholars as Robert
Park, Ernest Burgess and Amos Hawley. The scholars of ecological approach feel
that cities do not grow randomly but grow along lines and in response to
features which are advantageous to it–along rivers, near natural resources, in
the intersection of trading rotes etc. They feel that cities become ordered in
to “natural areas”, through a process of competition, invasion and succession.
Patterns of location, movement and relocation in cities follow similar principles.
These scholars view cities as a map of areas with distinct characteristics.
Burgess sees them as concentric zones- Central Business District ( with
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concentration of trade, retail, business and related activities are located), the
Transition Zone to the outer fringes which he calls the Commuter Zone-the
satellite towns and suburbs. Process of invasion and succession occur within
these segments.
Some of the principles of these theories can be applied to Indian situation
especially to growth’s such as suburbs such as Gurgaon in outer fringes of
Delhi or the growth of suburbs in Bombay but largely the theory is based on
American cities which have distinct characteristics. The theory, also, underempahsises the role of planning and design in cities.
Urbanism and Created Environment : Harvey and Castells
More recent theorist such as David Harvey and Manuell Castell’s have stressed
that urbanism is not an autonomous process, but is part of a larger political
and economic processes and changes.
In modern urbanism , Harvey points out space is continually restructured .The
process is determined by large firms, who decide where they should open
their businesses, factories etc and by policies, controls and initiatives asserted
by governments which can change the landscape of a city.
Like Harvey, Castells stresses that spacial form of a city is very much related
to the larger process of the society. Castells further adds the dimension of
the struggles and conflicts of various groups who make up the cities. He gives
the example of gay community who have reorganized the structure of San
Francisco city. He believes that it is not only big corporations, businesses and
government which influence the shape a of a city but also the communities
and groups who live in cities.
Harvey and Castells analysis of uranbinasation and urabn situation adds an
important dimension – the political economy of a system.
Reflection and Action 25.2
According to Harvey and Castellls the special form of a city is very much
influenced by the politico-economic considerations of corporations, business
houses and governments.
Give examples from the Indian cities to support the above statement.
Indian Sociologists : Rao and Bose
M.S.A. Rao (1970), analysis urabinasation and urbanism keeping in mind the
larger social structures of Indian society. For him, urbanism is a heterogeneous
process and hence there can be many forms of urbanisms giving rise to many
types of urbanization. Rao states that the dichotomy between cities and
villages is incorrect as both have the same structural features of caste and
kinship and are parts of the same civilization. Moreover, urbanization and
westernization are not identical and should not be confused. Urbanization
does not lead to the breakdown of traditional structures of caste and joint
family. The traditional and modern structures coexist in the urban milieu
because of which various types of urbanisms exist – post-industrial, preindustrial, western, non-western etc. Further, urbanization is seen in relation
to social change and no real social transformation is associated with it. However,
due to urbanization new forms of social organization and association have
emerged. Thus, for Rao, urbanization is a complex multifaceted process
comprising of ideological, cultural, historical, demographic, comparative,
traditional and sociological elements. Rao defines a city as a center of
urbanization and urban way of life. Urbanization is a two way process.
Urbanization in India is not a uniform process but occurs along different axes
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- administrative, political, commercial, religious and educational - giving rise to
several types of urbanisms. These different axes give rise to different types
of contact which the city has with the villagers leading to distinct patterns
of urbanization.
He distinguishes three kinds of situations of social change in rural areas resulting
from urbanization: villages near an industrial town, villages with a sizable
number of emigrants working in towns and cities, and villages on the
metropolitan fringe. Rao believed that through the study of migration, one
could observe the similarities, dissimilarities and continuity between villages
and towns. Rao’s sociological approach is the most complete approach to the
study of urbanization because he tries to examine them in all their different
facets and relate these facets to one another and to a sociological
understanding of urbanism and urbanization.
Ashish Bose’s demographic classification emphasizes quantitative factors like
demography rather than qualitative factors in defining urbanization. For him,
urbanization, in the demographic sense, is an increase in the proportion of
the urban population (U) to the total population (T) over a period of time. As
long as U/T increases there is urbanization. The process of urbanization is a
continuing process which is not merely a concomitant of industrialization but
a concomitant of the whole gamut of factors underlying the process of economic
growth and social change.
Bose outlines the characteristic features of urbanization in India. He made a
decade-wise differentiation in terms of percentage of urbanization. Here
urbanization is affected by trends in migration. He recognizes the push-back
and turn-over factors of migration. He considered four variables affecting
urban growth:
a)
Proportion of new towns to total urban population;
b)
Proportion of declassified towns to the total population;
c)
Proportion of declining towns to the total population;
d)
Proportion of rapidly growing towns to the total urban population.
Only when these are combined, it will be possible to analyze the process of
urbanization in India. Bose used the concepts of towns and cities
interchangeably.
25.6 Social Effects of Urbanization in India
Urbanisation has far reaching effects on larger societal process and structures.
Let us capture some of these change sand effects in the following sub sections.
Family and kinship
Urbanization affects not only the family structure but also intra and inter
family relations, as well as the functions the family performs. With urbanization,
there is a disruption of the bonds of community and the migrant faces the
problem to replace old relationships with new ones and to find a satisfactory
means of continuing relationship with those left behind. Several empirical
studies of urban families conducted by scholars like I.P. Desai, Kapadia and
Aileen Ross, have pointed out that urban joint family is being gradually replaced
by nuclear family, the size of the family is shrinking, and kinship relationship
is confined to two or three generations only. In his study of 423 families in
Mahuva town in Gujrat, I.P. Desai (1964) showed that though the structure of
urban family is changing, the spirit of individualism is not growing in the
families. He found that 74 percent families were residentially nuclear but
functionally and in property joint, and 21 percent were joint in residence and
functioning as well as in property and 5 percent families were nuclear.
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Kapadia (1959) in his study of 1,162 families in rural and urban (Navsari) areas
in Gujrat found that while in rural areas, for every two nuclear families there
were three joint families; in urban areas, nuclear families were 10 percent
more than joint families.
Aileen Ross (1962) in her study of 157 Hindu families belonging to middle and
upper classes in Bangalore found that
1.
about 60 percent of the families are nuclear
2.
the trend today is towards a break with the traditional joint family form
into the nuclear family form into the nuclear family unit.
3.
Small joint family is now the most typical form of family life in urban India.
4.
Relations with one’s distant kin are weakening or breaking.
Though intra-family and inter-family relations are changing, it does not mean
that youngsters no longer respect their elders, or children completely ignore
their obligations to their parents and siblings, or wives challenge the authority
of their husbands. One important change is that ‘husband-dominant’ family
is being replaced by ‘egalitarian family’ where wife is given a share in the
decision-making process. I.P. Desai maintains ‘in spite of strains between the
younger and older generations, the attachment of the children to their families
is seldom weakened’.
Sylvia Vatuk maintains that the ideal of family “jointness” is still upheld although
living separate. The extended family acts as a ceremonial unit and close ties
with the members of agnatic extended family are maintained. Also, larger
kinship clusters including groups of bilaterally and affinally related household
within the same or closely adjacent mohallas exist. There is a tendency
towards bilateral kinship in urban areas. In her study of Rayapur in 1974-1976,
Vatuk mentions the increasing tendencies toward individualizing the marital
bond and decline of practices such as levirate widow inheritance, widow
remarriage, marriage by exchange, polygyny etc. The impact of urbanization
is also seen in the urban pattern of increasingly homogenized values and ways
of behaving.
Thus, gradual modification of the family structure in urban India is taking place
such as diminishing size of the family, reduction in functions of family, emphasis
on conjugal relationship etc. Kinship is an important principle of social
organisation in cities and there is structural congruity between joint family on
one hand and requirements of industrial and urban life on the other. In his
study of nineteen families of outstanding business leaders in Madras, Milton
Singer(1968) argues that a modified version of traditional Indian joint family is
consistent with urban and industrial setting.
Urbanization and Caste
It is generally held that caste is a rural phenomenon whereas class is urban and
that with urbanization, caste transforms itself into class. But it is necessary
to note that the caste system exists in cities as much as it does in villages
although there are significant organisational differences.
Caste identity tends to diminish with urbanization, education and the
development of an orientation towards individual achievement and modern
status symbols. Andre Beteille (1966) has pointed out that among the
westernized elite, class ties are much more important than caste ties.
A noticeable change today is the fusion of sub-castes and fusion of castes.
Kolenda (1984) has identified three kinds of fusion: (i) on the job and in newer
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neighbourhood in the city, persons of different sub-castes and of different
castes meet; (ii) inter-sub-caste marriages take place, promoting a fusion of
subcastes; (iii) democratic politics also fosters the fusion of sub-castes.
Studies of many sociologists like Srinivas (1962), Ghurye (1962), Gore (1970),
D’Souza (1974), Rao (1974), have shown that caste system continues to persist
and exert its influence in some sectors of urban social life while it has changed
its form in some other sectors. Caste solidarity is not as strong as in urban
areas as in the rural areas. Caste panchayats are very weak in cities. There
exists a dichotomy between workplace and domestic situation and both caste
and class situations co-exist.
In respect to the change in the distribution of power, we find that in preBritish India, upper caste was also the upper class. But with education and
new types of occupations, this correlation of caste and class is no longer true.
Beteille (1971) pointed out that higher caste does not always imply higher
class. This disharmony is most often found in the Indian cities where new job
opportunities have developed.
The establishment of caste association again reveals the vitality of caste system.
The most powerful role that caste identity is playing in contemporary period
is in politics which governs the power dimension. Caste acts as a ‘vote bank’
in both rural and urban areas and because of this, it is being revived in urban
areas. Caste also becomes a basis for organising trade union like associations,
which serves as interest groups which protect the rights and interest of its
caste members.
Certain aspects of behaviour associated with caste ideology have now almost
disappeared in the urban context. The rules of commensality, or inter-dining
among castes, have very little meaning in the cities. The frequency of intercaste and inter-region marriages has increased.
Neighbourhood interaction in urban settlements is marked by a high degree of
informality and caste and kinship are major basis of such participation. Lynch’s
(1967) study of an untouchable caste, Jatavs, in Agra showed that Jatavs had
well-knit mohalla (ward) organization which resembled a village community in
many respects. Doshi’s (1968) study of two caste wards in the city of Ahmedabad
also refers to the traditional community organization.
Urbanization and Status of Women
Women constitute an important section of rural urban migrants. They migrate
at the time of marriage and also when they are potential workers in the place
of destination (Rao). While middle class women get employed in the white
collar jobs and professions, lower class women find jobs in the informal sector.
Women are also found in the formal sector as industrial workers.
The onslaught of forces of rapid industrialization in a patriarchal social system
led men to move out in order to qualify for the labour market by acquiring
specialized skills. Women were traditionally relegated to the informal and
family setting.
But many positive developments took place in the socio-economic lives of
women as a result of increasing urbanization. Increasing number of women
have taken to white-collar jobs and entered different professions. These
professions were instrumental in enhancing the social and economic status of
women, thereby meaning increased and rigorous hours of work, professional
loyalty along with increased autonomy. The traditional and cultural institutions
remaining the same, crises of values and a confusion of norms have finally
resulted. The personally and socially enlightened woman is forced to perform
the dual roles - the social and the professional roles (Gore (1968), Kapur (1970),
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Ross (1983)).
In the cities of India, the high level education among girls is significantly
associated with the smaller family size. Though education of women has risen
the age of marriage and lowered the birth rate, it has not brought about any
radical change in the traditional pattern of arranged marriages with dowry.
Margaret Cormack (1961) found in her study of 500 university students that
girls were ready to go to college and mix with boys but they wanted their
parents to arrange their marriage. Women want new opportunities but demand
old securities as well.
The status of urban women, because of being comparatively educated and
liberal, is higher than that of rural women. However in the labour market,
women are still in a disadvantaged situation. D’Souza (1963) reveals the
psychological, household and social problems to which they are exposed.
Reflection and Action 25.3
While women in cities have more opportunities to find employment, both as
white collar workers or in the unorganized sector, they are open to more
vulnerabilities than the rural women
Find out from workingwomen in cities, both in organized and unorganized
sector, what these added disadvantages and vulnerabilities are.
Thus, while rural women continue to be dependent on men both economically
and socially, urban women are comparatively independent and enjoy greater
freedom.
Urbanization and Rural Life
Urbanization through migration to urban centres is a global phenomenon.
Many migrate to cities because of the availability of jobs there. Migration has
become a continuous process affecting the social, economic and cultural lives
of the villagers. Rao (1974) examined the social changes in a metropolitan
fringe village (Yadavpur). He distinguished three kinds of situations of social
change in rural areas resulting from urbanization:
1.
In villages from where a large number of people have sought employment
in far off cities, urban employment becomes a symbol of higher social
prestige.
2.
In villages situated near an industrial town with a sizable number of
emigrants working in towns and cities, face the problems of housing,
marketing and social ordering.
3.
The growth of metropolitan cities accounts for the third type of urban
impact on the surrounding villages. As the city expands, some villages
become the rural pockets in the city areas. Hence the villagers participate
directly in the economic, political and social activities, and cultural life of
the city.
Srinivas (1962) outlined the general impact of both industrialisation and
urbanization on villages. He showed how the different areas of social life are
being affected by urban influences. He pointed out that emigration in South
India has had a caste component as it was the Brahmins who first left their
villages for towns and took advantage of western education and modern
professions. At the same time as they retained their ancestral lands they
continued to be at the top of the rural socio-economic hierarchy. Again, in
the urban areas they had a near monopoly of all non-manual posts.
Holmstrom (1969) analysed the political network of leaders in a rural pocket
within the Bangalore Corporation in the context of an election. Majumdar
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(1958) in his study of Mohana village near Lucknow, noted that the village
economy is influenced by the urban market, although in an indirect way.
Eames’ (1954) study of a village in U.P. showed that many emigrants have left
their families behind, and they regularly send money home. Such a ‘moneyorder economy’ has enabled the dependents to clear off loans, build houses
and educate their children.
R.D. Lambert (1962) in his extensive review of studies concerning the impact
of urban society upon village life, points out different degrees of urban influence
on the rural life. Social changes are maximal in areas where displacement is
sudden and substantial due to urbanization.
Thus migration is a key process underlying the growth of urbanization. Far
from being a mechanical process, it is governed by economic, social and cultural
factors. This culture contact initiates certain processes of interaction and
different modes of social adjustment in urban areas. Migration has acquired
a special significance in the context of commercialization of agriculture; it has
major implications for urbanization, slums ad social change; it has notable feed
back effects on the place of origin, as the migrants maintain different kinds
and degrees of contact, thus increasing the continuity between rural and
urban areas. Many cultural traits are diffused from area one to another. Also,
new thoughts, ideologies are also diffused from the cities to the rural areas
due to increase in communication via radio, television, newspaper etc.
Urban Politics
Rao (1974) has identified four problem areas in the study of political institutions,
organization and processes in the urban context: 1)Formal political structure
2)Informal political organizations 3)Small town politics and 4)Violence.
There is the formal political structure, municipal or corporation government
where national, regional and local political parties compete for positions of
power. Lloyd Rudolph’s (1961) essay on Populist Government in Madras outlines
the struggle for power in the Madras Corporation and shows the decisive
dominance of the D.M.K, a regional political party. It also reveals the control
exercised by the party leaders in the context of the anti-Brahmin movement
and the populist support the party has acquired. The study brings out clearly
the relationship between urbanization and the changing power structure.
Besides formal structures of power, informal political organisations operate
through caste, religious and sectarian groups, and occupational categories.
Associations formed on these lines acquire political dimensions in so far as
they act as pressure groups, and in some cases they even form part of organized
political parties. Lynch’s (1968) study of the Politics of Untouchability describes
the processes by which the Jatavs become a politically viable group in Agra
city. It is significant to note that they form part of the Republican Party to
compete for position of power at the city, state and national levels.
A third aspect of politics in the urban context refers to the small town politics
where elites, factions or ethnic groups, more than political parties, are
significant in understanding the power structure. Ethnic groups get politicized
and act as vote banks and pressure groups articulating their interests, and
complete for various benefits of urban life. This results in a situation of
conflict between ethnic groups and between the migrant ethnic groups and
the locals. A.C. Mayer (1953) in his study of municipal elections in Devas in
Madhya Pradesh analysed the networks and ‘action-sets’ of influential leaders.
R.G. Fox (1969) showed that a Muslim-Bania conflict characterizes the politics
in a small town in Uttar Pradesh. There has been a shift in the authority from
the Muslim zamindars to enterprising banias (merchants).
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Another important feature of urban politics is violence resulting from communal
conflict, political disturbance, student strikes and regional armies such as the
Shiv Sena in Bombay. Besides these problems of urban violence, Tangri (1962)
and Kothari (1970) have drawn attention to the political implications of
urbanization. Different conflict situations have arisen with the growth of
urbanization such as unemployment and slums which contribute to political
instability.
Owen M Lynch (1980) studied the political mobilization and ethnicity among
the Adi-Dravidas in a Bombay slum, who are a low-ranking caste from southern
India and who have migrated to Bombay. Here, different political parties
compete for their votes. One party calls on them to identify as ‘untouchables’
on all-India basis; another party bids them to remember their South Indian
roots. The way in which the Adi-Dravidas define themselves politically is thus
related both to their position in Bombay as rural migrants from another region
and to their caste.
25.7 Problems of Urbanization
The patterns of urbanization in India has been marked by regional and interstate diversities, large scale rural to urban migration, insufficient infrastructural
facilities, growth of slums and other allied problems. Some of the important
problems of urbanization faced in different parts of India are as follows:
Housing and Slums
There is acute shortage of housing in urban areas and much of the available
accommodation is qualitatively of sub-standard variety. This problem has tended
to worsen over the years due to rapid increase in population, fast rate of
urbanization and proportionately inadequate addition to the housing stock.
Millions of people pay excessive rent which is beyond their means. In our
profit-oriented economy, private developers and colonizers find little profit in
building houses in cities for the poor and the lower middle class, and they
concentrate in meeting the housing needs of the rich as it is gainful.
With large scale migration to urban areas many find that the only option they
have is substandard conditions of slums. Slums are characterised by sub-standard
housing, over crowding, lack of electrification, ventilation, sanitation, roads
and drinking water facilities. They have been the breeding ground of diseases,
environmental pollution, demoralisation and many social tensions.
With India’s slum population standing at nearly 40%,slum dwellers form 44% of
population in Delhi,45% in Mumbai, 42% in Calcutta and 39% in Chennai
Over Crowding
In major cities in India like Bombay, Calcutta, Pune and Kanpur, the population
between 85% and 90% of households lives in one or two rooms. In some
homes, five to six persons live in one room. Over-crowding encourages deviant
behaviour, spreads diseases and creates conditions for mental illness, alcoholism
and riots. One effect of dense urban living is people’s apathy and indifference.
Oscar Lewis’ ‘Culture of Poverty’ (1965) was an attempt to develop a model of
the behaviour of the poor in a variety of cultural settings. It is a distinct way
of life that develops among the lowest stratum in capitalistic societies in
response to economic deprivation and inequality. Once people adapt to poverty,
attitudes and behaviours that initially developed in response to economic
deprivation are passed on to subsequent generations through socialization.
Water supply, Drainage and Sanitation
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No city has round the clock water supply in India. Intermittent supply results
in a vacuum being created in empty water lines which often suck in pollutants
through leaking joints. Many small towns have no main water supply at all and
are dependent on the wells. Drainage situation is equally bad. Because of the
non-existence of a drainage system, large pools of stagnant water can be seen
in city even in summer months.
Removing garbage, cleaning drains and unclogging sewers are the main jobs of
municipalities and municipal corporations in Indian cities. There is total lack
of motivation to tackle the basic sanitation needs of the cities. The spread
of slums in congested urban areas and lack of civic sense among the settlers
in these slums further adds to the growing mound of filth and diseases.
Transportation and Traffic
Absence of planned and adequate arrangements for traffic and transport is
another problem in urban centres in India. Majority of people use buses and
tempos, while a few use rail as transit system. The increasing number of twowheelers and cars make the traffic problem worse. They cause air pollution
as well. Moreover, the number of buses plying the metropolitan cities is not
adequate and commuters have to spend long hours to travel.
Power Shortage
Power supply has remained insufficient in a majority of the urban centres in
India. The use of electrical gadgets has increased in cites, and establishment
of new industries and the expansion of the old ones has also increased
dependence on electricity. Conflict over power supply between two states
often creates severe power crisis for people in the city.
Box 25.4
Garbage
Of about 3,000 to 5,000 tonnes of garbage generated in one day in a metropolitan
city, hardly 50 to 60 percent is cleared. Out of 1,500-2,000 million litres of
sewage generated in a day, hardly 1,000 to 1,500 litres a day is collected. This
is when the total budget of municipal corporations of cities like Delhi, Calcutta,
Mumbai and Chennai varies between Rs.1,000 and Rs.1,500 crore per annum.
(Source: India Today, October, 31, 1994)
Pollution
Our towns and cities are major polluters of the environment. Several cities
discharge 40 to 60 percent of their entire sewage and industrial effluents
untreated into the nearby rivers. Urban industry pollutes the atmosphere
with smoke and toxic gases from its chimneys. All these, increases the chances
of diseases among the people living in the urban centres.
According to UNICEF, lakhs of urban children die or suffer from diarrhoea,
tetanus, measles etc. because of poor sanitary conditions and water
contamination. As a long-term remedy, what is needed is using new techniques
of waste collection, new technology for garbage-disposal and fundamental
change in the municipal infrastructure and land-use planning.
All the above-mentioned urban problems are because of migration and overurbanization, industrial growth, apathy and inefficiency of the administration
and defective town planning. Solutions to urban problems lie in systematic
development of urban centres and creation of job opportunities, regional
planning along with city planning, encouraging industries to move to backward
areas, adopting a pragmatic Housing Policy and structural decentralisation of
local self government itself.
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Reflection and Action 25.4
What do you think are additional problems of urbanization, which have not been
mentioned in our unit?
In your opinion, what is the way out of the malaises affecting urban centres in
India?
25.8 Conclusion
As you can see urbanization is an on going phenomena which is very difficult
to capture through any single approach or analysis, especially in India. In this
unit we have tried to capture different aspects of urabnisation-the history to
present situation. the various approaches to study urbanisaion and the problems
and consequences of urbanization. And we find that it is a process which is
linked to many larger structures and process. As globalization process is speeding
up, connecting the world n unprecedented ways, there is a suggestion that
cities throughout the world will come to exhibit organizational forms
increasingly similar to one another as technology becomes more accessible
throughout the global system Some theorists suggests that increasingly divergent
forms of urban organization are likely to emerge due to differences in the
timing and pace of the urbanization process, differences in the position of
cities within the global system, and increasing effectiveness of deliberate
planning of the urbanization process by centralized governments holding differing
values and, therefore, pursuing a variety of goals for the future .
25.9 Further Reading
Rao, M .S. A. (ed.),
Delhi.
1974. Urban Sociology in India, Orient Longman, New
Ramachandran, R., 1989. Urbanization and Urban Systems In India, OUP, Delhi.
Mishra, R. P., 1998. Urbanization in India: Challenges and Opportunities, Regency
Publications, New Delhi.
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